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The Justice Department concluded in a Jan. 6 memo to the White House counsel that the Senate's "pro forma" sessions don't actually interrupt a congressional recess.
Because they don't, the president was entitled to exercise his constitutional power to make recess appointments, the department concluded.
President Obama used that authority last week to name Richard Cordray director of the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also made additional recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.
"The Senate could remove the basis for the president's exercise of his recess appointment authority by remaining continuously in session and being available to receive and act on nominations, but it cannot do so by providing for pro forma sessions at which no business is to be conducted," says a memo from DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.
The memo was released today in response to calls for a fuller explanation of the legal basis on which the White House acted.
The question, the Justice Department says, is a practical one: During these pro forma sessions, is the Senate actually able to provide advice and consent to nominations? Obviously not, the memo says, which makes them a "recess" in name only, and not in substance.
Even so, it says, "the question is a novel one, and the substantial arguments on each side create some litigation risk for such appointments."
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The Obama Justice Dept is racist, it is against States rights and the 10th amendment so who would have thought that Obama's Justice Dept would not side with Obama? Go figure. . .
Please read the Constitution and come back and tell us exactly where the term "States Rights" can be found. On second thought. let me save you some time; it isn't there. There are no "rights" granted to any government - federal, state or local, in the Constitution. The rights belong strictly to the people. Powers and authority are assigned, but with the consent of the governed. The term states rights is code for the ability of the power structure in some states to oppress minorities and deny them their civil rights. It was the excuse for protecting slavery, Jim Crow laws and segregation, and it was terminated by the Civil War and the Civil Rights legislation of the 60's.
CAL USA #52.1,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution
WHAT STOP THE PRESSES? The corrupt Justice Department that is the militant wing of the socialist Obama administration said Obama did nothing wrong? NO WAY, I am floored!
Come on Holder is Obama's lap dog. He isn't ever going to say Obama ever did anything illegal no matter what it is!
how many jobs did any of this create...
I guess the Justice Department was just paying back a favor, since obama stood beside Eric Holder when he was guilty of fast n furious.... anyone surprised about the DOJ justifying this move by obama, still needs to wake up and look at what is going on...
The biggest problem is once a libtard, always a libtard. They will bite at any thing obama says or does, even if they are proven to be wrong and/or illegal. Libtards are nothing more than BIG government slobs because they have NO PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to do for them selfs.
yes your right alberto gonazales never did anything wrong what a goof ....you guys trying to pretend your so righteous...like everything you forget you have a past which is much worst than obama and holder could ever be....
obama's acutally shrinking the goverment that bush enlarged number and cost wise....learn to read....big goverment dems not like the big goverment repubicans that acutally want to tell woman what they can do with their uterus....who can marry who can be in the military.....what you can watch....etc etc etc...
Marc
Holder admited his policies caused the deaths of Border Agents, and Mexican citizens. And then said that more will die. Tell me when Alberto Gonzales had anything even close to that?
Holder and Obama have each others back and don't care what laws they break as long as they retain power. Liberals are so sad, they will damn their own country just to say they are right, no matter how wrong they are!
To..Devdoc""""
Holder never said that ..and where was your outrage....
Iraq army weapons wind up on black market
The New York Times
Sunday, December 10, 2006
But three types of American-issued weapons are now readily visible in shops and bazaars here as well: Glock and Walther 9 mm pistols, and unused Kalashnikovs from post-Soviet Eastern European countries. These are three of the principal types of the 370,000 weapons purchased by the United States for Iraq's security forces, a program that was criticized by a special inspector-general this fall for, among other things, failing to properly account for the arms.
The weapons are easy to find, resting among others in the semihidden street markets here, where weapons are sold in tea houses, the back rooms of grocery kiosks, cosmetic stores and rug shops or from the trunks of cars.
"Every type of gun that the Americans give comes to the market," said Brig. Hassan Nouri, chief of the political investigations bureau for the Sulaimaniya district. "They go from the U.S. Army to the Iraqi army to the smugglers. I have captured many of these guns that the terrorists bought."
answer me this hater's why doesn't the senate and house just do there job and have a fair hearing on these guys.....why....reason none......obama's trying to do his job...leading the executive branch but the gop wont give him the people required to admin it...just plain bull@!$%# what the gop is doing right or wrong no reason nothing out of the ordinary ....children playing ...... boehner and his 9% approval as opposed to pelosi's 40% hmmm who's not doing the job.....you conservatives can complain all you want because that is your way but it doesn't change the fact that you guys are blocking the legitimate business of the country by being @!$%#'s,, obama busted your chops again....good luck with mitt in 2012
even bigger hater marc huff, it's comming. If you would get some info from places other that the far left news you would know this. This will make it to the supreme court but I'm afraid that by the time it gets there next year, Obama will no longer be president
actually it wont go to the supreme court because that requires the attorney general to sue and i dont think that will happen based upon the JD issuing there statement. also you must go to lower courts before you can get to the supreme. lastly obama will be the next president because there is no credit to the republican canidates. all lie and apart of big money. at least this current president did social work and was and still is an activist for the people.
lest see romnie wanted the auto industry to fail. he would have sold it to make a personal buck and let milliions of jobs for americans go away
how many jobs did romnie sacrifice to make a good buck.
you conservatives act like obama invaded a middle eastern country with no cause other than make up intel...oh you guys did that one....
id10t. . .
Marc one word for ya Lybia!!
Justice? Man, they use that term loosely. The justice department is in the tank for Hussein Obama, lock-stock-and barrel.
answer the question why is the house and senate not doing their job filling these position some almost 3 years....why why why....that's the gop house and gop senators....sounds like he got tired of the do nothing republ.. i just wonder why the justice dept doesn't investigate the rep for not doing the job of confirming appointee's.....
you do understand that the repubs have only been in charge of congress since jan 2011 and the dems have control of the senate where these appointments are done. While I do know that the repub in the senate could and would have tried to block them but they can only do that for so long.
Besides, the repubs, for the most part, are doing what they were elected/re-elected to do in nov 2010. Remember that historic election?
The GOP has only had control of the House of Reps since 2011. So 3 years? seems like alot of dems don't like Obama's socialist agenda, otherwise when they controlled all of congress they would have done it then!
O wait they were cramming Obamascare down our throats, and payin senators for their support.
TO..son'''
Dev """
Well we can see the mess created when repubs controlled the congress ..the senate and the White house from Jan 2003 to Jan 2007...and you want them back in power again...
senate doofus,,,,the democrats don't have a 60 vote majority which it takes to act in the senate that's where confirmation take...and it's been divided all three years ...
Marc once again you show your lack of understanding or knowledge! The dems lost the super majority in the last election! 2011 ( I do not count Scott Brown as a R).
Amunaka,
No we need true conservatives like we had in the 90s that balanced the budget that Clinton always takes credit for. The Republicans lost their way in the early 2000's and acted like democrats, that is why you see a new group growing in congress.
So just hold onto your liberal panties and wait until after they take control with true conservatives and we will all be better off.
To..Devdoc""
There is no such thing as a true conservative ..they all just claim the other guy isn't conservative enough..in a never ending circle J
Clinton made 139 recess appointments, Bush made 171 recess appointments, as of January 5 2012 Obama has made 32 recess appointments. During the Bush administration democrats held pro forma sessions to try and stop it, just as republicans tried this time. It did not work under Bush and I did not work for republicans this time. Seriously, they way conservatives in congress and their followers are acting is just out right hypocrisy and is a lie to the American people. There is no abuse of power happening here by the president. The only abuse of the system was and still is the fact that congress can hold a pro-forma session for 1 min accomplish nothing, discuss no laws than act like they were not in recess. I watched a session on cspan, they drop the gavel say this sessions starts at blablabla time about one minute passes with no discussion what so ever, the gavel is dropped again and the speaker goes as of blablabla time and date this session is adjourned.
Haven't you people figured it out yet?
Politics is a dirty game. All the back stabbing, insider trading, passing laws that don't apply to themselves, playing little games, etc. It's both parties.
Why is it that there are 10 congressmen with a worth of over 100 million dollars? And something like 400 with a worth of over 1 million? Do you think they started their congressional career with that much money? Hell no they didn't. They got rich from us. I'm willing to bet that every member of Congress is part of the 1% all you people seem to hate so much. President Obama was not a millionaire 4 years ago.
I wonder what Senator Obama would have thought about these 'shady' at best recess appointments?
To..314159.."""
Shady ..how...
impeech obuma and be done with it.
To late to impeach him. He's done his damage.
i;ll quit hating if one of you conservatives can answer me why you let three years pass at confirming these guys ...since you guys can't or wont' since that would indicate the fact that you dildo's left the barn door open on this one ....and it's you playing politics....i just going to go play tennis......as i said before good luck with mr. rommey in 2012 i can tell how much you guys love him. he he he.....
Marc we answered you about three of four times now, so go take your meds and lay down.
Why do we even need Congress??????
Harry Reid has 15 bills on his desk that Congress passed and will not even put them up for a vote?
Congress voted AGAINST Obama's appointment, so he waited and used his "Executive Priviledge".
What a scumbag!
I soooooooooooo wish he & Michelle Antoinette had stayed in Hawaii...less damage to this Country!
Actually, they used the filibuster to stop the appointments. Do you know what that is??
Jim - does S stand for Sh!thead?
To Patty"""
You mean those republican deregulation and more tax cut bills...
Patty, A good case for repealing the 17th amendment/ / /
your ignorance is beyond truth, but you need to stop listening to rush, congress did not vote on his appointments. they have been stalled with an up or down vote for 11 months now.
also while many of you are repeating what you see on fux and msnbc i suggest you actually read a book about congress or just watch the congressional session on c-span. its boring but at least you can get an education about your congress. its a shame i see so many ignorant comments on here. its a total shame many of you are americans and just like the iraq war you dont look at the information yourself but just like sheep listen to it from pundents whos job it is to confuse you.
you are suppose to be americans and you can request the information for yourself just like the news media request it and then spin it in either direction.
obama backs holder in the death of Officer Terry and holder pays obama back!!!!
How so shocking! The King's hired goons back him.
You mean seiu????
George Soros?
It's like this President is doing something new, something never done before, why do the GOP/baggers question everything this President does? Heck, even vacations shock the GOP/baggers, even though we just had 8years of the vacation KING, George W. Oh that's right they are huge HYPOCRITES! LMAO!
Well for me it's his socialist and communist friend's and associate's???
And actions. . .
Have either one of you been to a true socialist country? Buy the current conservative definition any form of taking money from someone and giving it someone else is socialism. If this is true I urge both of you to stop donating money to your church, if you do so. Because last time I checked many churches help the less fortunate through life with donations made from their more fortunate followers.
So you agree that I should decide where my money goes?????
Maybe you want to re-think your attempt at an analogy?
maybe you should rethink your ignorance at understanding words. socialist and communist. that would be the definition of regan. your parties idle. This man is doing only what has been tried in the past but failed. majority of his plans where back by repuds and dem in the past. no one had the political will to do them. socialist huh. so you dont use the mail system. never used medicaid. Many of you are just repeating what fux news and rush dumbo say. you dont know what history is and you most certainly dont understand socialism or communism. if you think capitalism is better then vote for romey and see what happens to your precious country.
romeny would have let the auto industry collapse. the main stream of what built america. gingrich closed the government for the lack of a seat.
while many of you think your understand democracy you dont. you understand to be sheep. so stick your head back in the pasture and keep grazing. listen to your idiots on tv and radio. dont question them and just go about your business as sheep to the slaughter.
to gary
you dont get to decide where your money goes unless you run for congress and then skip over some old people on a large ass board. I say we give these people term limits. this is not and was not suppose to be a job. This system was meant to be a term of service. civil service. if you did not want to go into the military or private sector but still wanted to serve your country in a small way you could run for congress of your district and state. You talk about socialist. Dont you think its communist of a senator to want to stay in congress for over 10 years.
lastly the last time i check we are not a democratic society we are a republic. does this sound familiar
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America
I said all this in several earlier posts so I am redoing it in one.
Are there any surprises here? Obama and the Democrats make the rules as they go to suit their agendas. They did the same to stop Bush as the republicans did to stop Obama but today we change the rules again. Just as they changed the law to replace Kennedy. But hey, you do not dare oppose it or Obama and Holder will play the race card again.
Congress forced recess appointments – USATODAY.com
www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/.../story/...recess-appointment.../1
3 days ago – In late 2007, Senate Democrats began using brief, "pro forma sessions" to stop President George W. Bush from making recess appointments. ...
Editorial - Replacing Senator Kennedy - NYTimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/opinion/25tue2.html
Aug 24, 2009 – Allowing the governor to appoint the next senator in Massachusetts would be undemocratic. They should keep the current system that allows ...
Obama's justice department backs him? really? they are no different that the rest of the liberal cronies.
Now THERE'S a surprise.......... We have a Justice Department that breaks the law itself - why in the world would they or the President care about the Constitution? Interesting that we have a media outrage over the marines urinating on the dead Taliban (and rightly so) but the Justice Department and the President urinate on the Constitution on a daily basis and the media doesn't seem to care............
To Orlando"""
you forget bush and gonzales ..you really want to bring up the fired attorneys ..or the torture thing ..
Would rather just get rid of obama and holder!!!!!!
I would rather be rid of the Obstructionists Congress and put some in who will actually do some good for the working class. Useless wastes of time and tax payer money is what they are.
first of all the constitution states that the president can appoint people while congress is not in session doing the business of the people. so where is there a law or constitution broken you morons. jess stop listening to other people on tv who bought there diploma out of a cracker jack box. Actually do research online or god forbid in a library which is paid for by your tax dollars. The constitution states that the president can recess appoint people for one year if and when congress is not in session.
A recess appointment is the appointment, by the President of the United States, of a senior federal official while the U.S. Senate is in recess. The U.S. Constitution requires that the most senior federal officers must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office, but while the Senate is in recess the President can act alone by making a recess appointment. To remain in effect a recess appointment must be approved by the Senate by the end of the next session of Congress, or the position becomes vacant again; in current practice this means that a recess appointment must be approved by roughly the end of the next calendar year. Recess appointments are authorized by Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution,
now do many of your feel or think that a session of congress should only be 1 minutes at best long to say you are not in session. congress in session means that majority are in the there office doing the business of the people. dont try and say you are on christmas break and then try and say oh no we are here look look for one minute i am here. would your boss allow if. so why are many of your ignorant folks talking against the president when you should be on congress back asking well while did you go on recess. why did you not stay and do the peoples business. arent we in a jam. why are republicans taking trips to other countries when your country is in trouble.
hmmmm you dont here this part from your fux news and rush dumb idiot limbaugh. seriously why do you people listen to him. he is the worst liar i have ever known. while freedom of speech allows you to have talking rights it does not allow you to smear or tell lies against thy neighbor.
My goodness the angst from the right ..is hilarious ...
now these recess appointments were for what again...
2 unconstitutional depts. Thsi new one and the nlrb
What recess appointments? There were Pro Forma Sessions just as the Democrats did in 2007 against Bush. If it was illegal for Bush to make recess appointments then why not now????
actually sonmanvb
those two departments where made by your congress so how are they unconstitutional. one is to protect the middle class and poor americans who get suckered into buying cheaply built homes with a huge price tag or small print clause on them after a year to raise your rates. dont forget when your credit card/ BANK decided they arent making enough money from ya and want to slap on an extra fees for you to use your money. these practices made these companies rich and personal profits while sacrificing the countries interest. really people why are some of you so ignorant to the way America works and what the constitution states. why are many of you just hating without understanding. sorry but many of you remind me of germany 1941 populace. you just hate because someone told you to hate. you blame because someone told you to blame. you become ignorant to how your country works and what your country stands for. what the civil servants are suppose to be doing. if your congressman talks back slyish or basically is telling you to shut up just remind them who they work for and if you dont like to answer your boss(the people) then you can resign. stop these congressional people from playing you. the only person i see letting other talk and listen to them is the president. while he isnt perfect he doesnt act like christy or romey. corporations are people. yeah right.
Gary- Yeah, all those sooooo verrrryyyyy scarrrrry, socialists and communist! LMAO! Hey Gary go hide under your bed! I see London, I see France, I see Mitts magic underpants!
So hummbird, please expain what socialism is. . .
here go read for yaself.
here are some examples of socialism: medicare or medicad. social security, oh yeah the united states postal service. Thats just to name a few
And the Republicans are trying their hardest to diamantle all of the above.
The idiot eric holder also thinks it's ok for club carrying black panthers to stand outside polling stations. So, expect the KKK and skinheads to be standing outside the polling stations this year. What comes around goes around.
yeah as appose to you need a government id to go vote. hmmm black panthers outside 1 polling station making sure no morons or cops are preventing people from voting. learn to read and look at the evidence. you have 2 black guys outside 1 poling station. i dont see them as obstructing you from voting unlike a state saying oh you can vote if you have this id. oh yeah which in most states cost alot.
You really think that the KKK and skinheads can find them?
Of course the Justice Dept. supports Obama. Don't buddies stick together? Chicago politics at their finest.
I think the point should be: appointments require approval, as one on the many balance of powers. What if the decision stands and the democratsare are back in the minority in 2012...the republicans will be able to appoint whoever they wish...look out for the law of unintended consequences.
reccess appointments are for a year. congress still can actually do their job and finally vote on the person. but the law is being broken by not having a head of a department by law.